Things That Go Bump At Midnight
by LizCrazy
Summary: Russia's Halloween and the aftermath thereof is a lot scarier than he had in mind, and ends up so full of surprises that he has a shocking revelation. All 'thanks' to his little brother, who doesn't need a costume to cause chaos at Halloween. Happy Halloween! Rated T for to be safe and due to incest.


_Rattle, rattle...Scratch, Scrii..itch!_

Ivan Braginsky sat bolt upright in bed. Was that a dream? A figment of his imagination? He reached over to his bedside table and flicked on a lamp, illuminating the clock and calendar next to him. _31st of October, 12 minutes until midnight..._

He shook himself. Well? So what? Just another time and date. Why should he be superstitious about that? He didn't even pay Halloween that much heed!

A furious rattle started up from, by the sounds of things, his front door. It was getting louder and more urgent.

...Okay...Russia thought to himself, not just a dream then. Maybe a late night trick-or-treater got lost and needed help? It'd be too dark to see the doorbell after all.

He got up, seized the pipe he kept by his bed 'just in case' and set off determinedly across the room, still listening carefully for any sound from outside. Everything had gone quiet.

He paused near the bedroom door.

And froze as he heard the deafening smash then several tinkling sounds as somewhere, one of his windows shattered. It wasn't as innocent as he had tried to convince himself. Someone or something had been trying to get into his house...And now it seemed to have succeeded.

Fear and annoyance battled for control of his brain and eventually, he was angry enough about the break-in to grip his trusty weapon and press on, heading downstairs, turning on lights and glaring around as he went.

In the living room, there were twinkling shards of broken glass littering the floor. But he couldn't see the intruder at all. Yet he was aware of something else in the house...

It was coming from the kitchen. A strange, soft humming sound that he could only just hear. Nervous now, the Russian man approached the doorway, clutching his pipe.

He was prepared for some kind of nightmare-ish scene like that of the living room. He was expecting...Well, he wasn't sure exactly what he _had_ been expecting, but it _hadn't_ been...

 _"Belarus?!"_

His Little Brother's head snapped around and Ivan noted with considerable concern that Nikolai was brandishing a knife. Not to mention the fact that the Belarusian man was covered in splatters of...something red.

"Oh, Hello, Big Brother...Did I wake you?" The younger Male trilled, as if he hadn't broken in through the window in the middle of the night.

But there was no point in trying to use that kind of logic on Nikolai, who had his own, 'special' kind of 'logic'. "Da...What are you doing?" Russia asked his sibling with a little sigh.

"What does it _look_ like?" Was the question that was fired back. Hopefully, it was a rhetorical question, because the Russian had a feeling the answer "A murder scene," Would not be welcomed by his temperamental brother.

"Uhh..." He began nervously.

"I'm making you cupcakes!" Nikolai interrupted brightly, answering his own question.

 _"Why?!"_ Asked the baffled and half-asleep older brother.

"Because it has been far too long since we did _anything_ together and since you barely _ever_ visit _me_ , I thought _I_ would come and see _you._ The cakes are just a little present to show my love for you..." The Belarusian smiled at his brother in a slightly alarming way, holding the knife as though he was daring Ivan to challenge his ideas.

"That's...nice, Kolya, Dear..." Russia began tentatively, wondering how to proceed without getting a knife thrown in his direction. "Why in the middle of the night? And did you have to break my window? It's very cold in here now..." He began asking as many of the questions he had about this as he dared.

"I couldn't sleep without seeing you again, Brother!" Nikolai told him firmly, then he paused and looked a little bashful, "I'm sorry about the window. But you seem to have reinforced the door since last time. I couldn't get it open. Or make much of a dent in it with this..." He added, twirling the knife he was holding.

Ivan sighed, "Well, da, that's because people aren't supposed to break into my house. You should have knocked or something..." Or something being stayed at home, preferably, he thought to himself as he watched his obsessive little brother consider this idea for all of two seconds before replying.

"But that would wake you up and ruin the surprise!" Like breaking the window wouldn't wake me up? Ivan mused to himself, trying to work out Belarus's odd form of logic and failing. He rolled his eyes and looked over at his brother again, realising that Nikolai was still talking.

"I was going to finish the baking and wait for you to wake up so we could have cake for breakfast together..." The Belarusian mused aloud, "But now we'll have to wait. Do you want to help me?"

Well, I'm not getting any more sleep tonight, Ivan thought, glancing at the clock wistfully. I might as well have some cake to show for all this. And then maybe he'll go home without breaking anything else... "Da, fine. What are we making?" He answered, wandering over to his brother.

Nikolai smiled in a slightly creepy way again, moving in even closer - a little _too_ close in Ivan's personal opinion - to his Beloved Big Brother. "I'm making you red velvet cupcakes," He answered.

Of course, Russia thought to himself, rolling his eyes again. Only Belarus would think of breaking in at midnight to make him red velvet cakes and inadvertently scare the life out of him at the same time. Well, at least the cake mix explained the red stuff all over Nikolai without anyone having been murdered.

Reflecting on the night's events as they silently ate their breakfast, Ivan supposed the cakes were worth it. But he still had to fix the window and he liked Halloween even less now. Pumpkins and skeletons could be lived with, but if the thing that went bump in the night was his Little Brother, he'd prefer to avoid the scary holiday altogether, he decided with a little shudder as he glanced across at the grinning Belarusian man.

Nikolai's grin vanished in an instant. "What's the matter, Big Brother? Aren't you enjoying our date?" He demanded, frowning.

"Uh...It's fine, Kolya. I'm just...Cold, da? The window is still broken..." Ivan muttered, making excuses and trying to ignore the use of the word 'date' in that sentence.

"I will fix it for you later. After you tell me the truth." His brother answered, watching him with an unnerving poker-face from across the table. When the Russian didn't answer, Nikolai sighed and put his half-eaten cupcake down. "You're upset again, because I came to see you, aren't you?"

"No!" Russia snapped quickly. His younger sibling frightened him sometimes, but he didn't want Nikolai to think he didn't love him at all. He did, just as a brother and therefore not in the way the Belarusian wanted. "I would just rather you visit during the day and without breaking in, da? But the thought was sweet..." He added more calmly.

Belarus muttered something about that being 'boring', before becoming suddenly very serious again. "And do you like it when I visit then, Big Brother?" He asked.

Talk about a loaded question, Ivan thought to himself. He did like to see his brother, but if he said so, he might get a proposal even scarier than the ordeal of the night before. Still, he didn't want to upset his brother. "Da..." He answered hesitantly.

"And do you love me?" Nikolai added sweetly.

The Russian paused. He did love Nikolai as a sibling. And a friend of sorts. How exactly did he sum those feelings up without any trouble ensuing? His brother had been his closest and one of his few friends for a long time, since they were very young. And Nikolai understood certain things about him that no one else really did. Their personalities had plenty of similarities, as did their Nations and cultures...The only problem was that his brother had, somewhere along the lines picked up the notion that these things should come together to equal romantic love. And they didn't.

 _Did they?_

A small voice inside his head questioned him as he glanced back at his brother, who looked scarily adorable for someone who had broken into his house in the middle of the night, as he sat there smiling sweetly, waiting for an answer.

To his own surprise, Ivan stood up, leant over and kissed the Belarusian on the cheek. "Of course I love you, Little Brother!" He told him with a warm smile. And he was more surprised still to realise that he was telling the truth. All the years of fear had been a misunderstanding, because he hadn't known a lot about love himself, and knowing that Nikolai didn't made it easier to understand how he had mishandled his feelings.

But his heart had been in the right place. The morning's surprise had been intended to be a sweet, romantic gesture. Nikolai hadn't intended to break the window when he planned it, he was just slightly too determined to go ahead with said plans once they had been made.

Perhaps the scariest part of the last few hours for Russia was realising that he actually _did_ love his brother the way Belarus had always wanted him to. But a close second was Nikolai's reaction to the kiss.

He flung his arms around the Russian man faster than it should have been physically possible for him to react and clung to Ivan tightly, so tightly the Russian man could barely move. "I knew it!" He yelled, "I knew I would win your heart! When are we getting married?!"

Ivan gave another resigned sigh. "When you fix my window, Little Brother, then we can talk about wedding plans, da?" He offered. His brother reluctantly released his grip on him. "Deal." The Belarusian agreed. He abandoned his remaining breakfast there and then to fulfil his side of that bargain.

The Russian picked up his own share of cake and retreated away from the over-zealous Belarusian. At least he's happy, he thought to himself. Then he added, perhaps we should get married next Halloween, because planning a wedding with him is going to get _scary_!

* * *

 **Author Note:**

 **Halloween special because why not! Also an excuse to write Yaoi RusBel because I did Yuri and both Hetero forms so this is overdue! Now, moving on, as us** **ual:**

 **If you spot any grammatical and/or spelling (disregarding the factor I don't** **use American grammar and spelling) please point them out.**

 **The translations used are:**

 **Kolya = Diminutive for Nikolai**

 **I do not (As you probably know) own Hetalia, Belarus, or Russia.**

 **Other than that, just enjoy the story and Happy (Spooky!) Halloween!**

 **~Liz**


End file.
